I know some of you reading this aren’t Catholic or don’t recognize Lent in your life, but I still want you to keep reading. There are many lessons that Lent can teach us. Lent is a time of reflection, sacrifice and transformation. It is a time that we take a look at our lives and reflect how we are living and compare that to how God would want us to live our lives. It is a time that we look at how we can be better versions of ourselves.Usually in lent, its commonly known that things are either added to or removed from our lives. By adding other good habits to our lives, we can be transformed by them. It is us taking action to being better versions of ourselves. By giving up or deleting things from our life or routine, it is a way for us to try to understand a fraction of the sacrifice Jesus made for us by dying on the cross. Some people choose to keep their Lenten resolutions to themselves, and that is perfectly fine! It is a time of inner transformation, however I’m choosing to share mine for the sole purpose to inspire. I want to inspire you to be better versions of yourselves and maybe, just maybe, these three things I’m changing in my life can serve as inspiration.

I will be doing daily prayer, reflection and journaling thanks to my Blessed Is She Lenten journal! I am so excited because I used their Advent Journal and I just felt like it made my prayer time more intentional.

I’m focusing on staying present and in the moment. Lately, I’ve been looking at things through a “conditional happiness” lens. “When this happens, I’ll be happier.” or “When I get/buy this, I’ll be happier.” That mentality is a rabbit hole because it takes me away from the present and recognizing that I’m so happy and blessed for all that I have right now. Not had in the past, or will have in the future, but right now. Another way I’ll be focusing on the present moment is reduced phone time. Specifically in the mornings and evenings. Starting tomorrow, I will be plugging in my phone in another room at night (thanks Amanda for the idea!) so I’m not tempted to scroll through social media first thing in the AM. This leaves room for my more intentional morning routine that I’ve created thanks to the inspiration from Alyssa :) Evenings with the hubby will also be a time that we are reducing our phone time. For two hours from the time we start dinner, we are just going to be present with each other and not be on any devices.

Using my time more efficiently.Working from home it is SO easy to get sucked into having the TV on in the background, which is easy because watching “my shows” is also a guilty pleasure of mine. This lent I am going to limit to one TV show during the day. It may sound silly, like “duh you shouldn’t be watching any TV during the day! Get your work done, girl!!” While that is one way to look at it, it is my way to unwind, relax and my version of “self care”. The time I will get back will be spent focusing on growing my business and giving my clients the time and attention they need, keeping up with my New Year Resolution to read two books per month, as well as work on a really fun project for Opt Org that I can tell you all about next week :)

So how is this different than new year’s resolutions? For those who recognize Lent, I guess there are a lot of similarities, there’s just more of a purpose for adding or giving up things. I will still (yes, still!! I haven’t given up on them yet!) keep up my New Year’s Resolutions, but I will be adding on these three things as well to grow in my faith. You may be thinking, “I can’t possibly add MORE things to my busy schedule and hectic daily routine!!”. If this is you let me ask you, are you BUSY, or PRODUCTIVE? What can you add or delete from your life that would make you more PRODUCTIVE? I had a talk with my husband the other day about the big difference between the two. Busyness leads us to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Being productive however can make us feel accomplished and fulfilled. Whether you recognize lent or not, how can you transform your life? What do you need to delete from your life that isn’t serving you? What can you do to be more productive? Whatever it is, let’s do it together. If not now, when?

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Emily has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University. There she learned how valuable organization can be in being productive. She chose to use this knowledge and help others achieve this productivity and optimization in their homes and small businesses. Read & Enjoy and as always, let us know if you have any questions!